The 25GS-PON MSA Group this week announced the addition of seven new member companies, including AT&T, CommScope, Cortina Access, Feneck, HiLight Semiconductor, Hisense Broadband and Semtech.
These companies, along with the ten founding 25GS-PON MSA members, including major operators along with leading system and component vendors, are enabling a move beyond the limitations of 10 Gb/s next-generation PON, the current state-of-the-art technology, to define and promote next-generation 25GS-PON technology in support of emerging 5G and industrial requirements at cost-effective price targets.
In a statement, new 25GS-PON Group member CommScope said: “CommScope is joining the 25GS-PON MSA Group to lend our global expertise in standards development and PON deployments to the advancement of the 25 Gigabit specification. This evolution of PON is a necessary step in enabling wireless xHaul [capabilities] as well as serving the growing bandwidth requirements of enterprises and future networks and applications.”
The 25GS-PON MSA was first announced on October 8, 2020 with the goal of promoting and accelerating the development of 25GS-PON technology. Since its formation, the 25GS-PON MSA Group has published version 1.0 of the 25 Gigabit Symmetrical Passive Optical Network specification, providing the basis for how 25GS-PON should be implemented to ensure basic functionality and interoperability across different vendors.
The founding members of the 25GS-PON MSA Group include AOI, Chorus, Chunghwa Telecom, Ciena, MACOM, MaxLinear, NBN Co., Nokia, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., and Tibit Communications.
As explained by the 25GS-PON MSA Group's announcement:
There are several performance and efficiency-driven demands propelling the market toward 25GS-PON. The first is for 5G wireless networks, which will require three to ten times greater density than 4G.
25GS-PON is extremely well-suited to support xHaul transport for 5G’s increased cell density and capacity requirements. With 25GS-PON, operators can leverage their existing fiber networks to significantly reduce both the cost and time required to bring up 5G services, ultimately delivering better services to consumers.
Another factor driving 25GS-PON is enterprises’ growing reliance on high-performance applications, including cloud computing big data applications, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
25GS-PON can deliver true 10 Gb/s symmetrical services. Because 25GS-PON leverages mature, high-volume data center optical technology, it can be implemented quickly and cost efficiently. The first 25GS-PON products have been announced, and analysts anticipate the first trials this year, with deployments in 2022.
“The addition of such a wide range of network operators, equipment vendors, and component suppliers to the 25GS-PON MSA is evidence of the technology’s importance for 5G xHaul and enterprise services,” asserted Jeff Heynen, Vice President, Broadband Access and Home Networking for Dell’Oro Group.
Heynen added, “25G PON’s ability to co-exist with XGS-PON and reuse existing fiber plant makes it extremely attractive to operators around the world.”
Information regarding the 25GS-PON Group, including a copy of the 25GS-PON v1.0 specification, is published at www.25gspon-msa.org.